Scandals increase as Trump enters second year of presidency

Just months into Donald Trump’s second year of presidency, scandals, as well as departures, abound.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that as the 2016 election was drawing to a close, Trump allegedly paid $130,000 in hush money to adult entertainer Stormy Daniels to prevent her from speaking out about their affair. Of course, nothing came of this, as it seems Trump is untouchable when it comes to controversy. The affair faded from the public’s mind.

That is, however, until Daniels filed a lawsuit claiming their agreement cannot hold up in a court of law, as Trump himself never officially signed it, thus making the agreement public.

Matters got worse for Trump when White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said, “…arbitration was won in the President’s favor…” This statement is an admission that Trump was, indeed, involved with Daniels, contrary to his denials.

Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, claims it was he who paid Daniels off before the election, and that Trump had no knowledge of the agreement between the two, nor did Trump ever have relations with Daniels.

“The cover-up is that you have attorney Cohen claiming that Donald Trump never knew anything about this. You have the White House claiming Donald Trump never knew anything about this. That is going to be shown to be patently false,” Michael Avenatti, the attorney for Daniels, said, according to The New York Times.

Thus, if proven, not only is this a sex scandal; it is also a campaign finance scandal.

Daniels now claims she was threatened by a man who allegedly was sent by Trump in Las Vegas in 2011 after being approached by the media to sell her story.

Daniels’ attorney has filed a motion to depose both Trump and Cohen in order to question them about the payout, according to CNN.

In addition, Trump has been facing controversy within his cabinet. Gary Cohn, head of the National Economic Council, announced plans to resign following Trump’s comments surrounding race riots in Charlottesville, Va., as well as Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Both Cohn and treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin opposed the tariffs.

Cohn follows Sally Yates, who was fired, Mike Flynn, who was forced to resign, James Comey, who was dismissed, Mike Dubke, who resigned, Sean Spicer, who resigned, Reince Priebus, who was fired, Anthony Scaramucci, who was forced to resign, Steve Bannon, who resigned, Sebastian Gorka, who resigned, Tom Price, who resigned, Dina Powell, who resigned, Omarosa Manigault-Newman, who resigned, Rob Porter, who resigned, and Hope Hicks, who resigned, according to ABC News.

“We got along actually quite well, but we disagreed on things,” Trump said.

This news came after rumors Tillerson referred to Trump as a moron, and after many viewing the Texan as an interloper in political D.C., according to the BBC.

Following Cohn and Tillerson leaving, John McEntee was escorted from the White House due to security issues. McEntee served as a personal assistant of Trump. Officials state that an issue with his finances caused his security clearance to be revoked, according to the New York Times.

1 Comment

One Response to “Scandals increase as Trump enters second year of presidency”